Augusta Ada Byron, or Ada Lovelace, had a short life, yet left a mark that would last forever. Her works, even though they were ignored in her time, had an unmistakable impact to humanity’s advances, and became our first step to the “impossible”. Lovelace’s passion to find “poetical science” was a way for her to explore the deep depths of math and science. From there, with the guidance of her mother, she encountered different types of people. These people helped Lovelace to immerse herself deeper into the mathematics that led to her fascination with Babbage’s Difference engine. Her contact with Babbage led to their friendship as well as the exchange of ideas, which then led to Ada writing the first computer program. On December 10, 1815,
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It was hard to achieve recognition and introduce something who was considered “a wishful thinking” back then, even today we still struggle to step up and make a change. The standards for women back then were to find a husband and stay at home. However, Lovelace broke those expectations and gained knowledge greater than most men, and became in charge of her family. Whereas, only a few succeeded. Unfortunately, despite all these, there are those who disagrees with her being called the first computer programmer. One article in particular argued that Lovelace being the first programmer was “nonsense”. Although the author acknowledges her intelligence and achievements, to say that she was not the first programmer was nonsense as well. Babbage did have a vision, of some sort, as to how far the Analytical Engine can get; however, he did not have the amount of passion and hope as much as Lovelace does when it comes to this machine. She foretold the existence of computers in 1840s, whereas Babbage only built the machine in hopes of correcting careless calculations. (Actually, Babbage’s vision for the machine were unclear. The only thing I’m sure of is his reason for making the Difference Engine, where he got fed up with people making careless mistakes when calculating math equations.) Although, Babbage’s contributions were helpful, he was still geared towards it being used for correctly calculating math equations. Understood, that it was a joined effort and without both, these notes would be merely a dream without a strong support. It was also understood that Menabrea had a part in this; however, it was not clear, as to whether he was interested on writing a “computer program” at the time. He may have only been interested on the Machine itself, and suggested of ideas to improve the machine’s functions. No matter what, it is unmistakable that Babbage, Menabrea, and Lovelace
It was hard to achieve recognition and introduce something who was considered “a wishful thinking” back then, even today we still struggle to step up and make a change. The standards for women back then were to find a husband and stay at home. However, Lovelace broke those expectations and gained knowledge greater than most men, and became in charge of her family. Whereas, only a few succeeded. Unfortunately, despite all these, there are those who disagrees with her being called the first computer programmer. One article in particular argued that Lovelace being the first programmer was “nonsense”. Although the author acknowledges her intelligence and achievements, to say that she was not the first programmer was nonsense as well. Babbage did have a vision, of some sort, as to how far the Analytical Engine can get; however, he did not have the amount of passion and hope as much as Lovelace does when it comes to this machine. She foretold the existence of computers in 1840s, whereas Babbage only built the machine in hopes of correcting careless calculations. (Actually, Babbage’s vision for the machine were unclear. The only thing I’m sure of is his reason for making the Difference Engine, where he got fed up with people making careless mistakes when calculating math equations.) Although, Babbage’s contributions were helpful, he was still geared towards it being used for correctly calculating math equations. Understood, that it was a joined effort and without both, these notes would be merely a dream without a strong support. It was also understood that Menabrea had a part in this; however, it was not clear, as to whether he was interested on writing a “computer program” at the time. He may have only been interested on the Machine itself, and suggested of ideas to improve the machine’s functions. No matter what, it is unmistakable that Babbage, Menabrea, and Lovelace